Over the next 6 weeks, analysts will want to take note. There are 3 comic book movies - all major sequels and all based on Marvel characters coming out. CAPTAIN AMERICA 2 (Disney/Marvel), AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (Sony/Columbia), and X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (20th Century Fox). I think all 3 will do very good business domestic and foreign.

Marvel Studios batted another one out of the park with CAPTAIN AMERICA THE WINTER SOLDIER. During what they call “Phase 2”, meaning all the individual movies post AVENGERS, leading up to AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON (And starting Phase 3 less than 2 months after AVENGERS 2 in May 2015 with ANT MAN), CAP’s new movie was definitely the strongest entry.

Marvel has a sticky wicket with the next AVENGERS and even the preview for it at the end of WINTER SOLDIER. With the addition of QUICKSILVER and his sister the SCARLET WITCH, two well known AVENGERS make their debut. Well one of them. Since in the Marvel comics, they are the children of MAGNETO with the X-MEN stories (and movies), 20th CENTURY FOX owns these characters too.

Fox has QUICKSILVER appearing in May’s X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, although I don’t believe Magneto is playing his father strangely enough. QUICKSILVER and SCARLET WITCH also were well known in AVENGERS comics, so both companies have equal claim on the characters, although FOX is making a exclusive out of the term “Mutant”, as all mutants in the comics were related in some way to the X-MEN stories.

So FOX is clearly drawing a line and saying that no reference to MAGNETO or X-MEN in a MARVEL STUDIOS film. If I were a betting man, Joss Whedon won’t resist a comedic play on the situation in AVENGERS 2. Something akin to “You should see their father….” without overtly stating who he is.

Of an even more funny note, both actors playing QUICKSILVER in the two respective movies acted in the Matthew Vaugh film KICK ASS, based on a comic, right before Vaugh directed X-MEN FIRST CLASS for Fox.

Bryan Singer returning to the director’s chair for the first time in 11 years on an X-MEN film should be good. He’s a good storyteller and he helped shape this entire new millennial superhero movie genre with 2000’s X-MEN. It’s real risk is less him and more comic-book movie fatigue after only 6 weeks and 2 movies before it.